back from Brazil!
took quite alot of photos but i'm not going to upload them here, too troublesome.
they're all up on facebook though! (:

so we took the 2+am flight on the 20th (Tuesday) to Dubai.
We were flying on Emirates and there was a screen, but the 7hr flight still felt really long since it was quite cramped and all.
Waited a few hours at Dubai airport where Shengjun got scammed into buying 10USD noodles from the Thai Express there. haha.
while waiting for our plane to Sao Paulo we were playing cards, and this really cute Brazilian boy came over to 'play' with us. Actually he was just having fun messing the cards around.
Then he suddenly got hyper and tried jumping onto us (we were sitting on the floor)
Shengjun got the most attention, unfortunately for him. ha.
when his mum came over to pull him away he refused to leave, so we played with him till it was time to go.
and he ended up sitting in the row behind us in the plane from Dubai to Sao Paulo. :p

the flight was super super long!
like 15hrs.
Emirates again, and the screen was really quite good and quite big, but it was unbearably cramped and the annoying guy behind me kept asking me to push my chair up because HE wanted to watch his screen, when the guy in front of me had his chair all the way BACK. sheesh!

so we finally reached Sao Paulo and stayed a night at the Hilton there, which was really nice!
pity we were only staying there for a night.
took a 1hr flight to Belo Horizonte the next morning and endured a really bumpy 45min bus ride before finally reaching the hotel.
the hotel rooms were quite nice and spacious, lots of space between the beds and the tv.

went to the shopping center opposite the hotel after lunch to scout for Havaianas!
we didn't have to look long though since every sports shop and supermarket sold them.
some more expensive shops sold them too, but the designs were way different and much pricier.
there was also a havaianas stand in the mall.
and even the 24hour drugstores sold them. ha.

after that we took the shuttle bus to the pool which was at some country club-like place called Minas Tenis Club. (yes it's a tennis club)
the club has a reputation for producing good swimmers and apparently they were the no. 1 club in Brazil in 2006. (there was a sign)

back to the hotel after that and that pretty much sums up the first day.

second day, we left for the pool in the morning.
the sun was really strong!
but it wasn't hot cause of the wind and low humidity and the temperature was rather nice and cool.
then we went shopping again in the afternoon, but we kind of explored the area around the hotel this time.
bought our first few pairs of Havaianas!
haha. we kept going back again and again and buying a few at each time for the next few days (except comp days), the shopkeepers must have been rather amused.
pool again in the afternoon.
then back to the hotel to rest.

third day, heats started only in the evening.
so we went to the pool in the morning again.
(the 4 of us thought we should stay in and rest but the coaches wouldn't listen, so.)
had 200IM in the afternoon, and got a first taste of the Brazilian crowd!
they were super amazing and enthusiastic, so much better than the Singapore crowd.
Half the time most of the crowd would be standing up, and people come early for standing room at the bottom of the stands just behind the railings to be as close to the swimmers as possible.
and everytime you get out of the pool (it doesnt really matter to them what position you came in) they scream at you for your cap.
so i gave mine away after my last event during the last finals session. ha.

fourth day, had finals in the morning and heats in the afternoon
fifth day, finals in the morning and we were done!

there was a frenzy of photo-taking and autograph-signing and tshirt exchanging, not to mention buying merchandise since it was the last chance we had, before we finally went back to the hotel.

it was a sunday so after lunch we went out!
(yes shopping again)
took a cab to Diamond Mall (apparently recommended) only to find out it was like their paragon with really high-end boutiques and stuff.
probably a good place if you have lots of money (they must have thought we were quite rich) but definitely not on our budgets.
so after spending an hour or so there we took another cab back to BH shopping.
(we spent like 40+Reals on cabfare alone for that trip. S$1 = 1.2Reals. go figure. haha)
managed to get most of our Havaianas this time and bought Macs back to the hotel for dinner to eat while watching Death Note 2 in the room. ha.

On Monday we were only leaving for the airport at 4.30pm so we basically had alot of time in the morning.
no prizes for guessing what we did again.
haha.
bought the rest of the stuff before we left for Sao Paulo.
this time we didn't get to stay in the Hilton cause our flight to Dubai was a midnight flight ):

so around 1+am we took another long long flight to Dubai.
but this time it was much better cause it was about 2hours shorter and there were really few people so it was VERY spacious.
each person could have like 3 seats to lie on.
i thought the turbulence during the beginning of the flight was terrible, they even had to ask the cabin crew to sit down and fasten their seatbelts.
but apparently i was the only person concerned over nothing since the rest were already sleeping soundly and didn't even feel a thing!
ha.

at Dubai we spent a REALLY long time looking for the person who was supposed to fetch us to our hotel.
reached the hotel only about 2hours after arrival.
it was an apartment-type hotel, so our rooms each had a living room area, a kitchen area and the bathroom.
played cards all night and told ghost stories (actually just one), but it was enough to freak Shengjun out so much he didn't even dare walk out from the bedroom to the living room area which was literally just out the door.
he also managed to scare himself with his reflection in the bedroom window. ha.
not to mention Rainer even had to follow him INTO the bedroom toilet cause he didn't dare stay inside on his own. sheesh! haha :p

the next morning was a whirlwind.
we almost missed our flight because a very irresponsible someone woke up late!
and it wasn't the alarm clock or a mistake or something because jiaolian woke him up but he went back to sleep!
AND it was definitely not the first time he was late.

we were all really pissed and shengjun and tingting had to go up with the hotel staff to wake him up, cause the cars that we arranged to take us to the airport were already here.
imagine that, the swimmers had to wake the apparent 'team manager'!
and guess what? he answered the door in nothing but a pair of pants and HUGGING A PILLOW.
how embarassing is that?

well, because of him we missed our cars since they obviously couldnt wait that long.
and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get taxis in Dubai.
the car company couldnt reschedule the cars.
(he argued that no one told him the cars were leaving at 7 since he thought they left at 7.30, but we were all down by 7 except him, when HE was the one who told us to be down by 7!)
the taxi booking company only started operating at 9.30am.
and trying to flag down a taxi by the roadside is really futile.
so after spending i dont know how much time trying to flag down a cab, we had to walk to another hotel nearby to call up a Limo company for transportation to the airport. (since there were 6 of us we needed a big car)

the really really bad part was that not once did he apologise!
and while we were all there getting really worried and frustrated he still had the audacity to laugh! like there was nothing wrong and the situation wasn't urgent at all!
jiao lian was REALLY pissed with him.
and so were we for that matter.

traffic was bad, so we reached the airport at 9am when our flight was scheduled to depart at 9.10am!
the moment we stepped into the airport we heard the final call for boarding.
luckily we didn't have to check-in cause we were just transiting in Dubai, but we didn't even know the gate number!
and we still had to pass through the passport control and security screenings.
in the end four of us plus jiao lian just ran ahead first without waiting for him.
we had to run alot!
all the way to the departure gates area, look for our gate number, and then run ALL THE WAY to the gate!
it didn't help that it was gate 46, which was REALLY far away. (there're only 50 gates in total)
we were so late that there was a guy with a walkie talkie waiting for us, the 6 Singaporeans.
there were only 5 of us since we left him behind but we just told the walkie talkie guy to go ahead and bring us there first, we really didn't care about him anymore!

in the end, all 6 of us managed to catch the flight.
(secretly we were hoping he would miss it! since he couldnt even be bothered to care!)

and that pretty much sums up our trip.
it was really fun though!
all the card games and endless DVD watching and funny moments.
even though we had to be really responsible for ourselves this meet, from going through the correct counters at the airport, arranging the time to take the shuttle bus down to the pool to be in time for the comp, etc etc, since jiaolian didn't understand english and the 'team manager' practically didn't know anything.

it was still an enjoyable trip! not to mention a wonderful experience
(apart from the whole nearly missing our flight thing)
it's good to be back though(:

and SATs tmr!
urgh. :/

i really really want to watch Enchanted! :D

Storybook endings, fairy tales coming true
Deep down inside we want to believe they still do
And a secret is taught, it's our favorite part of the story
Let's just admit we all want to make it true
-Carrie Underwood